Build a Summer Camp Launch Pad to Get Your Child to Camp on Time Each Day

Getting your kids up and out of the house each day for summer camp can be stressful and time-consuming, especially if you have a slow mover or a chaotic morning. Does each child have her lunch, bathing suit, towel, bag for wet clothes, soccer cleats, or whatever it is she needs each day? Are these things in a single place ready to go? Do you know where your keys are so you can get her to camp on time?

Creating a Summer Camp Launch Pad near the primary entrance to your home can help keep you and your child organized and make getting out each morning a speedy and (usually) pleasant experience. This area will store all the things your child will need to put away when he comes home and have available to him when he needs to leave.

How to Build a Summer Camp Launch Pad:

Master checklist. Most camps will give you a checklist of what your child will need every day for camp. Turn this list into something your child can review each night before bed. The list the camp sends might be all an older child needs to review, but younger children might benefit from a laminated list they can check off with a dry erase marker. Some kids will also want an after-camp checklist to help them get their dirty lunch containers to the kitchen each evening. Keep the list or lists in the Launch Pad area.

Hooks for hanging light items. If you don’t already have hooks in this area, consider hanging removable hooks temporarily in this space. These are perfect for organizing raincoats, empty bags, and other lightweight goods.

Creating a Summer Camp Launch Pad near the primary entrance to your home can help keep you and your child organized and make getting out each morning a speedy and (usually) pleasant experience.

Paper storage box. Your child may come home with artwork or fliers after camp and a place to store these will make sure they’re not misplaced or lost in the bottom of a bag.

Shelf, bench, or table. A solid surface is good for holding heavy bags and equipment your child might need. It also gives you a place to put your keys, wallet, and the paper storage box previously mentioned.

Trash can. If your child is taking her lunch to camp every day, a garbage can in this space will give her a place to put any food trash.

Laundry hamper. Muddy and/or wet clothes need a place to be deposited so they can be washed before camp the next morning. A hamper that can be carried to the laundry room after everything else is put in its spot can keep these dirty clothes off the floor and from rotting in a bag.

Specialty storage. If your child will need baseball bats every day, an umbrella stand might work in this space to hold the bats. If your child will need tennis balls each morning, a bucket in this space can hold tennis balls. The goal is for everything your child will need to have a designated storage space.

How to Use the Summer Camp Launch Pad:

It’s probably obvious at this point, but all you need to do to use the Launch Pad is to have your child store items in it immediately when she gets home, take the dirty laundry hamper to the laundry room, review the checklist before bed to make sure everything is set and ready to go for the morning, and then gather all the items needed on her way out the door when she needs to leave. Trash will go in the trash each evening, papers in the paper box, shoes into the shoe tray, and dirty clothes into the hamper. Put things where they belong. I’m a fan of the saying, “A place for everything, and everything in its place,” and it certainly applies in this situation.